With city help, volunteers are building a number of trails this summer at Red Rock Canyon Open Space and are getting started
on the master-planned free-ride bicycle area and leash-free dog zone.
However, the big-ticket items for Red Rock are going to have to wait till next year, based on approved plans by Colorado
Springs Parks.
The City Parks Board has approved the expenditure of $875,000 from the city's Trails, Open Space and Parks (TOPS)
account for Red Rock improvements in 2006. TOPS funds come from the city's .01-percent open-space sales tax.
The money will be used primarily to build trailheads with parking and restrooms at High Street (off Highway 24) and at 31st
Street, trails, entry signage, and converting the Bock house to a pavilion, City Parks Development Manager Chris Lieber said in
a recent interview
The city had hoped to build the trailheads this year, but the money that was to be used for that work - a $1 million grant from
Greater Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) - has been slow in arriving, according to Kent Obee, former member of the TOPS board
and current member of the Parks Board.
The decision to use the TOPS money “bucket” was made at a TOPS board meeting about a month ago, at the request of City
Parks staff, he said.
“Our original hope was to use the GOCO grant to start funding the development,” Obee said, with the TOPS money reserved
for the mortgage payments on the canyon purchase “We're absolutely confident we will get it (the GOCO money), but we just
don't have it in hand. What this means is that when the GOCO money comes in, it will go into the pot to pay it (the mortgage)
off.”
The High Street lot, which is at the main entrance to Red Rock, will have room for about 100 parking spaces, the master plan
states. The current, temporary lot can hold about 30 cars.
The 31st Street lot will be the “primary parking area for vehicles towing horse trailers,” according to the master plan. It will
include about 20 parking spaces, plus five spaces for horse trailer parking.